15 Apr, 2021 → by ClaimboUser526606
MTN decreased my credit limit for returning the incorrect phone that they sent me
2
I am writing this to lodge a formal complaint against MTN and all its employees that I've encountered over the past few weeks. I am so disappointed and today was the final straw, it actually drove me to tears. I can't reiterate how much your staff have made me feel undervalued. I applied for a Samsung S21 that's violet in colour over 3 months ago, a few days later I received an email stating that I would be contacted soon for delivery. A few days passed and I heard nothing, I went to MTN in Eastrand Mall to try to enquire but ended up leaving the store as there were free consultants and I tried getting their attention and I was ignored. I then went to another MTN branch and before I could even complete my sentence, they stated that they don't work with online purchases and they can't help me. I understand not having the capacity to help but it was very dismissive and unfriendly, at the very least she could've tried providing a number, just any indication that MTN cares about their customers. I walked out disheartened and called the call centre, the consultant said that the phone would be delivered sometime that week, it never came. The following week I called again, and the agent said that the delivery man had tried contacting me, I disagreed because I hadn't received a call. She then said my application was on pause, I didn't understand because who pauses an application without even trying to rectify a situation? I then asked them to tell me which number that they had been using and she mentioned a number that I didn't even know. It was my router's number, which I had never provided as my number. I had so clearly stated my contact number in the application. The agent said I should phone some or other department to change my number. I really didn't understand because why would you require a customer to do so much work. I had applied and waited and now I had to use my time and airtime to rectify a mistake that MTN had made? I called either way and they said they would deliver my phone the following week (this week). On Monday the 12th of April, a phone was delivered, an S21 that's grey. Upon seeing this I told the delivery man that there had been a mistake, and this wasn't the phone I ordered. He said it's the phone he was given, I told him I acknowledge that, but I have no business receiving a phone that I hadn't ordered. He all but forced me to take this phone and said that they would swop it at an MTN store, he even suggested the store…MTN Melrose Arch. I didn't agree but I took it, I went to the Melrose store again was met with a rather uninterested face that told me that they don't do that here, I was perplexed obviously because how could MTN continuously put me through so much for a phone I would be paying for. At the Melrose store, they suggested I return it to Morningside. Which I thought was uncalled for because this wasn't my phone and now, I had to spend my time and petrol money, but I still went out of good faith. Upon arrival, there was an entire group of consultants huddled around each other laughing but the security guard directed me to a consultant at counter 12. While walking I see and lady and ask if she's the lady at counter 12 and she agrees. She then shouts at the security for referring a customer to her while she already had one. Which left me standing for a while with nowhere to go, I didn't like that at all. Then the security guard referred me to another lady, she was uninterested in my story and was just angry that the security guard had forced a customer to come to her at closing time which obviously affected her service. I tell her my story and she's uninterested, I ask her how long this will take, and she says they can't just swap out the phone it needs to go back to the warehouse. Another employer comes and she says unashamedly in front of me that she's angry that she was given a customer when everyone knows that she lives the furthest, that isn't a way to speak in front of a customer. I tell her that ill drop off the phone at the warehouse myself if it speeds up the process because I've been waiting for over 3 weeks and I need my phone, she says he doesn't know if I can do that. Once it was clear to me that I wouldn't be helped I tell her to cancel the contract. I thought to myself that I would just go to the branch the following day and get the phone the same day since the unwanted phone contract would be resolved. Yesterday I returned to MTN at Melrose, and I start a new application, everything was going fine but at the step before submission someone else's profile comes up and they can't finalise the application. They tell me to return in the afternoon, I returned, and it still wasn't fixed, we agreed that the would-be done today. This morning another consultant calls me, Xolani and says they are taking over the application because the guy I was working with yesterday got moved to another branch. He asks me for a few details, and I tell him that I'll come in store tomorrow to pick up my phone, he says ok. In the afternoon I receive a call from the Melrose store saying that there has been a complication. He says that my credit limit has been decreased and therefore I no longer qualify for the phone and this is due to me returning the phone on Monday. I'm naturally upset because I was given the incorrect phone why was I being blamed and punished. The agent says that this is not his problem anyway as he didn't start this process with me, which is really rude if were being honest. I ask him what now? And he suggests that I place an order online again…to which I reply that I already did 3 weeks ago, and it took 3 weeks, and my phone was incorrect how is this a viable option. I then ask him what else can we do, he said that he's told me what I can do it's just that I'm not even trying to understand…. there is no way you can let a member of staff talk to me this way. I ask him what MTN can do, perhaps like all the department that approves contracts and explain the situation and he says no. And I really didn't understand because yet again MTN staff weren't willing to do anything, and they would just dump the responsibility on their customers. Let's not forget that I was FORCED to take this phone by the delivery guy, MTN's delivery guy they aren't my people. I nearly cried at that moment because I felt like no one understood and no one cared, furthermore I felt so disrespected. What's worse was that there was no one I could even contact at MTN to help or even to raise the ordeals that I had been put through. I phoned customer care and the lady I spoke to barely helped either. She said that the application is still open and that she had never heard of a returned phone decreasing a credit limit. She then said I should return to the store because that can't is the reason, I explained that that wasn't an option as the Melrose branch had already made their reason clear and that I wasn't going to return to the store for some self-inflicted torture of being handled rudely. Again I didn't understand why her fix required me to do something, do MTN staff ever work? I asked her for help, and she said that she had nothing else to say. I phoned Melrose back and they said they have no idea what the call centre lady said. As you can tell I've been sent from pillar to post. I have never in my life felt so disrespected ever or maybe MTN just doesn't care about me as a customer, I don't know who to reach out to because at every point I'm yet by people who tell me that this isn't their problem. I haven't had a phone for over 3 weeks, and it clearly won't be happening soon. I specifically applied for a phone to be able to take pictures at an important event that I'm attending on Saturday the 17th but I won't have a phone, and no one cares. To be honest I feel like MTN owes me petrol money for being sent around to Morningside and for making all these calls that agents should be doing. I'm not happy. I'd like to lay a formal complaint. And I know you probably won't take me seriously because you have made it clear that you don't care about me but if you continue this way you will eventually lose business. People work hard for their money and they don't want to spend it at a place where they feel unwelcome.